Why I Still Listen to the Radio in the Streaming Era
Throughout my computer science classes in college, what I learned was how to 'optimize'. Finding the shortest path's time complexity, discovering the fastest algorithm, how to streamline and optimize memory. Perhaps the reason IT technology is consuming this world faster than any other is because capitalism—which grows larger the more money you pour into it—and computer science's resource optimization attributes are a perfect match. But this technology fails to understand that not everything operates by the logic of productivity. There are areas in human life that don't need to be efficient. One such area might be listening to music on the radio in the age of streaming platforms. In high school, I listened to radio and music in the most inefficient way possible. I loved listening to a late-night radio program called 'Midnight Diner,' hosted solo by a DJ and producer. On this show, the DJ focused more on selecting music than talking. Since it aired late at night, catching it live every time was difficult. The next day, I'd visit the website to listen to the replay files—which, due to copyright issues, only played the first 15 seconds of each track—alongside the playlist. First, I'd listen to the 15-second snippet. If I found a good song, I'd look it up on the playlist, download the track, and add it to my MP3 collection. That's how I gradually built my musical taste, one song at a time. Albums like Son Sung-jae's 'Rain's Rain', Lee Moon-sae's 'Memory Is Greater Than Love', and Yoon Sang's 'Nightmare' were added to my collection that way. Once, I even shared this process as a listener story on the radio. The DJ said it was amazing how diligent I was. Thanks to that inefficient process, I came to treasure each song.
Around that time, the 'Stop Dumping Music' movement emerged in the music industry. It was a protest against the situation where music producers weren't receiving fair compensation due to flat-rate music subscription services and unfair distribution structures, around 2012. It raised the issue that low-cost or unlimited streaming services were diminishing music's value. Back then, illegal music downloads via Soribada and Torrent were fading, while domestic streaming platforms like Melon and Bugs were expanding their influence. As someone who cherished each song, I thought: Wouldn't the circumstances of my favorite creators improve if people listened to more CDs? So, I created a mobile app called Cypri with my college friends. It recognized CDs, registered them in the app, and let you listen while viewing booklet designs, just like listening on a CD player. It was just an idea with no practicality, and obviously not usable by anyone. Even after that, I rarely used music streaming platforms. I used an iPod until 2020. I loaded each song individually onto my iPod to listen. I disliked how streaming platforms just let music flow by.
Eventually, I started using a streaming platform—Spotify, which I've now used for five years. The reason I chose Spotify was, unsurprisingly, its 'radio feature'. Bugs, which I used briefly before, also had a radio feature. It recommended similar songs based on music I liked. But its genre-focused recommendation algorithm had limitations. If I listened to a lot of NCT songs, it would recommend BTS (because they're both K-POP). As anyone who knows will understand, even within K-POP, there's a wide river between NCT and BTS… Our tastes couldn't possibly be the same. Spotify was different. It classified tracks based on characteristic data. Each song was categorized by Danceability, Acousticness, Valence, Energy, Tempo, and more. If I listened to NCT, it might recommend BoA or suggest music from other countries with a similar vibe. Since it recommended based on the music's characteristics rather than genre, I never had that awkward moment where the radio function suddenly played a jarring song and I had to turn it off. I loved Spotify's smooth, uninterrupted flow.
Now, I listen to both radio and Spotify simultaneously. I wake up early in the morning to tune the antenna and set the frequency for the radio that starts at 7 AM. Also, when I get in the car, I turn on KBS Classic FM. Instead of ads, the DJ's warm voice flows out. Starting at 7 AM, Announcer Lee Jae-hoo's ⟨Starting with FM⟩ is broadcast. Listening to the diverse life stories of people across different age groups on my commute, I sometimes feel like I'm fitting right in with the crowd of ordinary people living ordinary lives. A few days ago, on Thursday, was one of those days when my mood kept getting worse. As soon as the last meeting ended, I hurried down to the parking lot and got in my car. As always, Classic FM was playing. The traditional Korean music segment of ⟨FM Pungnyu Village⟩, airing from 5 to 6 PM, ended, and at 6 PM sharp, ⟨All the Music in the World⟩ began. Just as the opening signal played and the DJ's intro started, as if on cue, the first snow began to fall.
"I think the first snow doesn't fall on everyone at the same time. For some, the first snow visited yesterday; for others, it's falling right now. It's falling now in the Seoul and Gyeonggi regions. I hope the story of this first snow of 2025, which we're welcoming together, becomes a cherished memory we share for a long time."
Next came Kim Hyo-geun's 'Snow', sung by American soprano Barbara Bonney, followed by 'Snow Frolic', the insert song from the movie Love Story. Watching the snow fall beautifully while quietly listening to this music seemed to lift my spirits. A few days ago, I happened to hear a live recording of the KBS Symphony Orchestra and Nikolai Lugansky performing Rachmaninoff in my car. After the performance ended, the applause went on for a long time, and the DJ explained it was a live concert currently being held at Lotte Concert Hall. Since then, I've been listening to Nikolai Lugansky's albums daily on Spotify. Even now, when I hear good pieces on Classical FM, I check the playlist and save them to Spotify. Listening to the radio, checking the playlist, saving to Spotify – it's not much different from how I listened to the late-night restaurant radio show back in high school.
Over the past decade, the influence of music streaming platforms has only grown stronger. Technology keeps advancing, and Spotify's algorithm becomes increasingly sophisticated. It analyzes my tastes and recommends songs I might like, but I still listen to the radio and look up playlists. I also search for YouTube channels of artists making great music, and if they're really good, I go to their solo concerts. Even in an era where technology pursues efficiency in every aspect, even in an era where music is treated merely as background noise, I want to live as a music enthusiast who treasures each song and supports creators. Because the art of music holds other values that cannot be expressed in terms of efficiency or productivity. No technology can ever replicate the memory that brings back the atmosphere and emotions felt when first hearing a song. Nor can it understand the thrill of finding a song that perfectly matches my taste, or the obsession of listening to that one song on repeat for days. Or the ecstasy felt with every fiber of your being when you go to a concert to hear a song live that you only knew from recordings. No matter how much Spotify or YouTube Music advances, it can never achieve that. That's why, even today, I deliberately tune in to the radio to seek out and listen to music.